Aubergine And Tomato Pasta

I made a bit of a breakthrough tonight. I ate some goats cheese and liked it. Goats cheese is one of the few foods that I struggle with, partly because when I was a vegetarian between 2003 and 2005 every single vegetarian option in a restaurant used to be some form of goats cheese tar. Anyway I always think its good to re asses with food as as tastes change. I tried a tomato in a restaurant after 20 year of refusing to eat them and enjoyed it. Quite why I decided to be brave with goats cheese when feeling incredibly hungover after the work Christmas party I don't know. I just liked the thought of having little white crumbs of cheese sitting like snowflakes on top of my pasta.

Aubergine and tomato pasta (serves 1)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 aubergine, cut into bite-sized cubes
1 tsp salt
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 red chilli, Finely chopped
4 tomatoes, blanched, skinned, deseeded and chopped
125g fusili pasta
goats cheese

1) Cut the aubergine up into cubes and toss in the salt. Put the aubergine cubes in a col lander, leave it to bleed for around ten minutes and then give them a rinse under the tap before patting dry witrh kitchen paper and setting aside.
2) Meanwhile pour some boiling water over the tomatoes. Leave them for five minutes then skin them, remove all the seeds and chop.
3) Fry the aubergine in the olive oil for 5-10 minutes until its really soft. Then remove from the pan and using the same oil, fry the garlic and chilli for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook for ten minutes until the tomatoes have broken down into a mush. Stir in the aubergine.
4) While the tomatoes are cooking put the pasta onto boil. When ready, drain it and them mix it with the sauce. Pour all the pasta into a bowl and crumble goats cheese over the top.

This goats cheese was relatively mild so it didn't over power the sauce but it still made it a bit more interesting. You can see why chefs use goats cheese for the vegetarian options. A lot of chefs believe that vegetarian food is boring and they couldn't live without meat. Of course they're wrong but you can see why they go for the goats cheese option as it is strong and can making a dull dinner a bit more exciting.